SCRUM Method

Introduction

SCRUM is a one of the most used agile methodologies focusing on organizing and project management. The method’s foundation inheres the commercial product development work in 1986 elaborated by Hirotaka Takaeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka and officially defined in a paper written by Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber in 1995. The Agile Manifesto for software development published 1991 broadened usage of the technique aiming to continuous development of valuable software.

The key aspects addressed in the Agile Manifesto are:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following the plan

SCRUM can be implemented to different projects aligning continuous requirements’ changes and strict deadlines. The aim of Scrum is to enhance teamwork, provide transparency, and optimize complexity of the projects and unpredictability of software development.

Method description

SCRUM is an iterative process, where iterations, called Sprint, normally lasts from two to four weeks. The Sprint’s functionality called User Stories serves as a priority measure in Product Backlog. The Product Owner, who links the customers’ needs and product development process, controls the Product Backlog.

The most prioritized tasks represent the goal of the project and shall be divided into smaller tasks during the first Sprint Planning meeting. Thereafter, continuous Daily-Scrum meetings are to be hold within the project group. They are supported by the Scrum Board, which is the important visual tool to plan and control the progress of the Sprint Backlog. The Daily-Scrum meetings are under control of the Scrum Master.

Once the task from a Sprint Backlog is accomplished, its status needs to be updated on the Scrum Board, where all the updated information is stored in a Burndown Chart.

At the end of each Sprint, the Product Owner organizes the meeting called Sprint Review, which demonstrate the executable version of the project and value for the customer. The Retrospective Meeting of the accomplished Sprint takes place in order to analyze the progress of the accomplished project along with successfully achieved changes and pitfalls faced during the sprint. Moreover, it facilitates the implementation of improvements to the next Sprint . The process continues all the way around developing Sprint by Sprint, until the project is fully accomplished.

The key elements of SCRUM technique are roles, events, artifacts and rules that facilitate the rational decision-making process in order deliver the business values.

Roles

There are three roles in SCRUM method: Product Owner (PO), Scrum Master (SM), and Team, which supported by the customers and management involvement.

Product Owner

Product Owner (PO) is a person who has responsibility to continuously provide a clear communication through the Team along the vision and priorities, and ensure the link between team members, customers, and stakeholders. The Product Owner must understand the work, maintain the Product Backlog, and insure the team working on highest valued features.

Scrum Master

Scrum Master (SM) represents the role as facilitator for the PO and the team. The main responsibilities are to ensure productive work of team members and process improvement. During the project development process, Scrum Master ought to remove obstacles, and organize daily meetings called Daily Scrum. As a facilitator to PO, SM is able to find the way to maximize the return of investment (ROI) for the team.

Scrum Team

Scrum Team consists of developers who work in order to achieve an execution of Backlog items during each Sprint and form the final product. The team usually consists of 7-9 members. Team members are self organized and can decide how to develop a new functionality. Moreover, Scrum team’s responsibilities include reviewing Backlog along with providing recommendations towards possible changes to the project, and estimating user stories.

Customers

Customers often play an important role participating in Sprints related to the Backlog, having a close dialog with the team members and management in order to reconcile requirements for the functionalities and set expectations.

Management

Management ensures the organization’s target values and requirements to be achieved. It is management who chooses the Product Owner, monitors the progress, and optimizes Backlog in cooperation with Scrum Master.

Events

Sprint is an event that lasts from one week to maximum of one month. It includes Release Planning meeting, Spring Planning meeting, Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective meeting.

Release planning meeting

During the release planning meeting the goal and the main objectives for the team members and for the whole organization needs to be set and clarified.

Sprint Planning meeting

Sprint Planning meeting is organized to plan the next Sprint. Specifically, during the first part of the meeting, the plan of action should be set. The decision about product development with the new functionality is taken during the second part of the meeting.

Sprint Review

During the Sprint Review meeting, the achieved results for the relevant sprint shall be evaluated in collaboration with customer or Product Owner, or both.

Sprint Retrospective

Sprint Retrospective meeting aims to evaluate performance of the previous sprint, namely team members, processes and tools. The meeting follows the Sprint Review, and is a prior to the next Sprint Planning meeting. The results of the Sprint Retrospective meeting are the identified process improvements that will be applied in the next Sprint

Daily Scrum

Daily Scrum focuses on what was discussed on the last meeting, what needs to be analyzed on the next meting, and which impediments the scrum team faces and how to cope with them. The meeting lasts in 15 minutes and aims betters communication within the team, and fast decision-making.